Police in South Florida are investigating a series of Facebook posts that threaten a repeat of the Orlando shooting that took 49 lives at the gay bar Pulse in June.
Strangely, the man accused of posting the threats to the gay bar Rumors is a member of the local gay community.
“I’m gonna be killing you faster than cops kill n**gers,” Craig Jungwirth wrote in one post. “It’s time to clean up Wilton Manors from all you AIDS-infested losers.”
“None of you deserve to live,” read another of Jungwirth’s posts. “If you losers thought the Pulse nightclub shooting was bad, wait till you see what I’m planning for Labor Day.”
Wilton Manors police in Broward County are currently investigating Jungwirth over the incident.
Rumors owner Nick Berry told NBC Miami that this wasn’t the first time he’s dealt with harassment from Jungwirth—the bar has pending litigation against him for a graffiti incident in which Jungwirth was caught on security cameras vandalizing the outside of the bar.
Jungwirth also has a long and complicated history of clashing with the local gay community. In March, South Florida Gay News noted his strange behavior in regards to a local event called Beach Bear Weekend.
In January, SFGN revealed that the organizer of this year’s Beach Bear Weekend, Craig Jungwirth, was the target of civil restraining orders by circuit courts in three states, had been evicted by his landlord in Wilton Manors, and arrested for stalking charges in Broward County.
According to local sources quoted in the story, Jungwirth was extorting money out of unsuspecting travelers online while briefly acting as director of Beach Bear Weekend, and taking money for things that weren’t for sale—like beach chair rentals on a public beach.
A Florida resident named Jeff Black claimed in the SFGN story that Jungwirth threatened and harassed people who asked for refunds after reading about his scam.
Also in March, a Queerty story about Jungwirth called him “unhinged,” and referred to extremely odd behavior in his interaction with members of the popular drag queen group Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.
According to Jungwirth’s profiles on LinkedIn and Airbnb, he holds a degree from MIT in mechanical engineering and runs a “safety and security consulting” business that inspects theme park rides. NBC Miami reported that Jungwirth also has “a lengthy criminal history that includes stalking charges.”
Update, Sept. 6, 9:42am: Jungwrith was arrested by the FBI on Sunday afternoon. The South Florida Gay News reports: “This has been a collaborative and intense investigation which utilized the US Attorney’s Office, Secret Service, FBI, Orlando JTTF, Ft. Lauderdale PD and WMPD,” said Wilton Manors Police Chief Paul O’Connell. “The team worked endlessly throughout the week to piece together probable cause for the arrest of the subject. Now we let the criminal justice system take its course.”
